Does Practical Nursing Really Has Badly Affected Supply and Demand for Filipino/Pinoy Nurses Locally and Abroad?
There is a question now if the proliferation of Practical Nursing Courses has badly affected the current supply and demand of nurses in the Philippines and its impact to the impression of potential employers abroad.
Even before, the Philppine Nursing Association (PNA) had reportedly opposed the institutionalization of Practical (PN) in the country and its insertion by the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) through a 4-level ladderization of the nursing curriculum. PN is just one of those four levels. The other three are for certified nursing aides (CNA), applied science in nursing (ASN-RN) and registered nursing (RN).
The PNA, an umbrella organization of various nursing groups in the country, earlier said that PN schools only contribute to the dilemma of job availability for registered nurses. The organization said that there is no local demand or specific job positions in the Philippine health care delivery system for Practical Nurses.
It likewise noted that there is no licensure for practical nurses provided in Republic Act 9173 or Philippine Nursing Act to provide legal basis for the “institution of Practical Nursing.”
Despite this, it did not stop PN schools accredited by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) from pushing for the ladderization of PN and ASN-RN.
Gregory Tyrone Howard, president of the National Federation of Licensed Practical Nurses in America said Filipino PN graduates could qualify in the US if schools introduce a US-approved PN course.
But this doesn’t solve the issue if the Practical Nursing course is the culprit behind the dwindling job demand for our Registered Nurses. The government should look into this report and see where they need to really control or limit the Practical Nursing courses from even further affecting the Nursing profession in general.
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DOLE Claimed That There is Still High Demand for Pinoy Nurses Worldwide Other Than US and UK
Quick to respond to the news and defend the nursing profession, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) springs hope to many as they claimed that the global demand for locally-trained Pinoy nurses still remains high especially in Western countries with an aging population.
Labor Secretary Marianito Roque further claimed that it is not the because of dwindling demand for nurses abroad that is the culprit but rather the lack of adequate and necessary experience of our Nurses that actually prevents many of them from finding overseas employment.
Roque admitted, however, that the US is indeed putting a cap on the entry of Filipino nurses but he said this should not prevent Filipinos from looking at other possible market abroad for capable nurses.
Roque has been in talks with the Saudi Arabian government lately and declared that the Saudis alone is in need of 10,000 nurses for their public hospitals and they are looking for Filipino nurses to fill in these vacancies. He said there is also a growing demand for Filipino nurses in Canada as well as Australia.
Earlier it is reported that according to Dr. Leah Samaco-Paquiz, president of the Philippine Nursing Association (PNA) , the demand for Filipino nurses had “plateaued” in the US since 2006 because of the “visa retrogression” there.
“In the US, the quota for visas has been filled up resulting in delayed processing of visas with current efforts focused on 2006 accepted applicants,” Paquiz said.
The Labor chief rebuked these claims of the PNA that an oversupply of Filipino nurses has resulted from the declining demand for nurses in the United States and United Kingdom and reiterated that the other countries of the world still demand and prefer the caring hands of Pinoy nurses.
I hope DOLE will be good in protecting the nurses interest at this point in time.
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Is there really an oversupply of Pinoy Nurses in the Philippines?
Recent reports state that there is an oversupply of Pinoy nurses now in the Philippines due mainly to 2 factors.
1. Highly commercialized nursing schools – Students are still being advised to take on Nursing because they and their parents believed that becoming a nurse abroad is their ticket to escape poverty. Success stories of Pinoy nurses abroad are being flaunted everyday by nursing schools to attract more and more students to boost their earnings. And one way or another, someone from the family has direct link or relation to someone who is making big bucks abroad that only solidify the intent of the students to take on nursing.
The result – more and more high school graduates are now flooding these nursing schools as the preferred college course. Tens of thousands also end up taking the nursing board exams. The high board passing rate also encourage the students to take on the course.
2. Practical Nursing programs – Not many people know on the onset that Practical nurses end up to be the nursing assistants to registered nurses here and abroad. The proliferation of practical nursing programs from various nursing school institutions, which is a vocational course to begin with, has attracted even more students to easily jump into the nursing boom.
False advertising plays the part on the oversupply. Students are led to believe that Practical nursing course is their shortcut to going abroad than taking the full 4-year course. But recent reports showed that graduates of practical nursing are having a hard time finding jobs abroad contrary to what has been advertised when they are enrolling in those practical nursing schools.
This has raised concerns at PNA which warned students to be very careful taking on this course as it is not a guarantee that they will get working visas or immigrant status in the US for example.
Now with all unemployed nurses around, how will the government deal with this oversupply situation? This will definitely add to unemployment rate in the future if and when the government will not take action as early as now to curb the impact of this impending oversupply as well as the effect of deteriorating demand in the nursing profession here and abroad.
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When Nursing is Not a Lucrative Profession Anymore for Future Pinoy Nurses
Recent reports have suggested that Nursing is not a lucrative profession anymore for future Pinoy nurses.
This came after PNA revealed that job opportunities for Pinoy nurses are not as promising as it used to. Now future nursing students are advised to think twice before taking the nursing course. Those that think that this nursing profession is their ticket to success by working abroad is in for a big disappointment.
The culprit is the big drop in demand for nurses abroad mainly in the US and UK. Now, local hospitals like the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) and St. Lukes Medical Center have serious backlogs to consider as nursing applicants are advised to wait 6 to 12 months.
Despite this, nursing schools continue to lure students to enroll which further fuel the over supply of nurses in the country. The PNA blamed these schools for commercializing the profession thus more and more high school graduates are entering the nursing profession yearly.
In our earlier report, Nursing is the top choice amongst enrollees this year based on CHED reports. This commercialization of the profession also raise up the tuition cost of becoming a nurse and other expenses for those planning to go abroad.
Now, more than ever, CHED should be able to provide governance to the nursing schools. Recent reports showed that CHED still failed to clamp down on incompetent nursing schools which add more insult to the injury the profession is taking in right now.
So what’s in store for our nursing graduates this year? That is something the Philippine government should really be concerned with if they cannot create demand outside the United States and the UK soonest.
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